On the other side of the room, Trouble puffed up like a Halloween decoration, his orange pelt on end.
“Come on, Raf, you’re scaring Kaden’s cat,” I said.
“Oh, he’s scared of everything,” Kaden said, scooping him up. I watched as the nervous, fluffy cat melted into an orange puddle the second Kaden had him in his arms.
I rolled my eyes. “Big baby.”
I noticed Cash’s eyes go wide and full of joy at the sight of Kaden holding Trouble.
“Guessing you’re a cat lover too, huh?” I asked him.
Cash blushed a little. “Oh, yeah.”
“Duh,” Kaden said. “Would I ever accept him as a roommate if he wasn’t?”
“Aha!” Rafael cried.
I turned at the same moment we heard the sound of the softthumpof cardboard against carpet. Rafael had placed the box on the floor, and Demon was nowhere to be seen except for the long black tail sticking out the back.
“Oh no,” I said deadpan. “Where did she go?”
“I dunno, man, I think she disappeared,” Kaden remarked.
Cash was clearly holding back a chuckle as Rafael circled around the box like he was re-enacting a scene from a nature documentary.
“We got her now,” Rafael said, slowly crouching down and pointing at her playfully flicking tail. “See this? This powerful tail can lash out and break all my bones instantly!”
Demon let out a confusedmerp?
Rafael mock gasped, then slowly peeled back the box to reveal Demon, who looked on the verge of a playful frenzy. Rafael made a sudden jerky movement to tease her and she bolted at him, throwing herself on the ground and batting at his hands.
“Oh, god!” Rafael cried, pretending to be injured. “She’s got me! Her claws are shredding me!” He let out a fake death rattle. “Tell Skylar I loved him…”
I scooped up Demon and scolded her. “Look what you did. Now I’m a widow. Have anything to say for yourself, young lady?”
She meowed.
We all laughed at the perfect timing. Then Kaden approached me with Trouble in his arms, and we noticed the two siblings were in the exact same position.
“Oh, right,” I said, feeling a little melancholy. “This is gonna be the first time they’re apart from each other, isn’t it?”
Kaden nodded. I couldn’t tell if he was less sad about it, or just better at hiding his emotions. “I’m sure they’ll be okay, Sky. It’s not like he’s alone, right? He still has me. And Cash, now.”
“If it make him feel any better, I can put on a cat suit and crawl around on all fours for him,” Cash offered with a slight grin.
“Please do that,” I begged. “I would really like to see how you torment Kaden, now that I can’t do it anymore.”
Kaden smiled but there was sadness behind his eyes too. He let Trouble slip from his arms and he brushed the cat hair off his shirt. “You never tormented me, Sky. Not even when we had that ‘big fight’,” he said, putting it in air quotes. “I’m really gonna miss you.”
He hugged me, and the emotion behind it took me off guard. I wasn’t used to seeing Kaden so open with his displays of affection, especially since he was the one to hug me first. I put my arms tightly around him and couldn’t stop the tears springing to my eyes.
“It’s not like we’re never gonna see each other again,” I said, trying to comfort him but only making myself cry more.
Kaden chuckled. “Hell, we work together, remember? We’re scheduled together in a few days.”
“I know. But it’ll be different waking up and not seeing you eat cereal in your underwear anymore.”
He pulled away, laughing. “Yeah, but now you can see Rafael eating cereal in his underwear instead.”
